Exclusive: Dell, VMware Decide To Explore Options Including Merger - Sources

(Reuters) - US computer maker Dell Technologies Inc. and enterprise software provider VMware Inc. have decided to explore options that could include a possible merger of the two companies, said Thursday people close to the case.

The measure, which could not lead to any agreement is presented as Dell, the world's largest private technology company, seeking new avenues for growth after acquisition burdened with data storage provider EMC debt Corp. for $ 67 billion million in 2016.

Dell plans to announce Friday it will consider a potential reverse merger with VMware, as well as other alternatives, including an IPO or asset divestitures, the three sources.

VMware plans to announce the creation of a special committee of board members to consider a combination with Dell, sources said. VMware is 80 percent owned by Dell, so the special committee aims to make any combination subject to the approval of unintended directors to safeguard the interests of minority shareholders of VMware, according to the same sources.

The requested sources not to be identified because the case is confidential. Dell declined to comment, while VMWare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dell is under pressure to increase profitability after the agreement EMC has not achieved the projected cost and performance savings, while higher component costs and the difficult data storage market have eroded margins.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company has struggled with fierce competition in the storage market, as cloud computing rivals such as Amazon.com Inc.'s AWS and Microsoft Corp's Azure put pressure on price The chief of the Dell's infrastructure, former EMC CEO David Goulden, left the company last fall and since then the company has been working on reorganizing its storage operations.

The PC market, Dell CEO Michael Dell, helped shape the Dell foundation in 1984 as a freshman year with savings of $ 1,000, it remained stagnant because of the popularity of smartphones and tablets, which is down 0.2% in 2017, according to International Data Corporation. .

A reverse merger would see VMware, which has a market capitalization of $ 51 billion, buy Dell, instead of Dell buying the minority stake in VMware that it does not have yet. A blocking clause prevents Dell from purchasing VMware before September.

"Whether VMware or Dell are the acquirers, we believe that the terms of the deal should involve a premium to minority shareholders of VMware," he wrote in a research note analyst at UBS Securities LLC, Evren Ergin.

Another consideration for Dell in its deliberations is possible to provide Silver Lake private equity firm to withdraw its investment in the way the company. Silver Lake helped finance the $ 24.9 billion Michael Dell transaction in 2013 to privatize the company and holds approximately 18 percent of the company.

VMware to Focus on its Multi-Cloud Management Platform in 2018

Our Warning Board individuals think back on VMware's advance in 2017 and offer forecasts for the organization's future in cloud, systems administration and security. 

VMware demonstrated in 2017 that it has made some amazing progress from its virtualization roots. After a couple of false begins, it appears to have at long last discovered its specialty in the cloud showcase, thanks in no little part to the organization's profitable association with Amazon Web Administrations. All signs point to proceeded with development and advancement toward this path as VMware attempts to end up noticeably a multi-cloud administration stage. 

It was likewise an important year for VMware organizing with the arrival of both NSX-T for non-vSphere situations and NSX as an administration. In light of these advancements, it's winding up progressively obvious that NSX will assume a crucial part in VMware's item portfolio later on, and that it could even move toward becoming, as VMware Chief Pat Gelsinger guaranteed at VMworld 2017, "the following vSphere." 

SearchVMware approached its Warning Board individuals for their musings on VMware's year and what could be likely to work out for VMware in 2018. 

Stuart Consumes, virtualization and Linux master

By and large, this has been a decent year for VMware - far superior to expected, as I would like to think. At first glance, there's a considerable measure of new stuff happening, including another NSX-T dispatch and highlight increases to VMware Cloud on AWS. 

NSX is the gem in the crown of the VMware arms stockpile since, so far as I'm mindful, no other organization has anything remotely comparative, and it gives all the usefulness a security and system chairman could want. 

VMware's association with Amazon Web Administrations (AWS) and the consequent arrival of VMware Cloud on AWS made for the greatest news of the year. VMware Cloud on AWS - which is at long last by and large accessible - is a VMware cloud on AWS equipment. VMware deals with all the client confronting things. 

Despite the fact that VMware Cloud on AWS is a decent item, as I would like to think, it's still more costly than it should be. So, I speculate the cost will descend after some time. 

VMware affiliates have thought of their own interpretation of VMware in the cloud, yet rather utilize two figure hubs and System Document Framework stockpiling, which lessens the passageway cost into the cloud. This technique requires at least three hubs due to the vSAN prerequisite of VMware Cloud on AWS. 

From a business point of view, VMware has played its hand well and is fashioning vital associations to suit its interests. It is VMware's expectation that these connections will enable it to end up noticeably the paste that empowers cloud portability, a striking yet fascinating thought. Regardless of the naysayers, numerous clients have really expanded their VMware homes over the previous year. 

The huge concentration for VMware in 2018 and past is to build up a predictable multi-cloud administration stage. Medium and expansive organizations are embracing mixture cloud as their default setup at a developing rate, and they are utilizing numerous stages to deal with their surroundings. This is an issue since utilizing diverse stages to oversee multi-cloud situations is an exercise in futility and assets, and it leaves a cloud frameworks executive with more stages to learn and possibly investigate. 

Another real territory of center - one that has been generally tranquil in virtualization news for reasons unknown - is computerization. Robotization devices, for example, vRealize Mechanization, give a scaffold between moderately basic organizations, which any frameworks overseer can do, and an all out entrance understanding. 

In spite of the fact that mechanization requires critical forthright venture, it streamlines the sending procedure while keeping up effortlessness and comfort for the end client. In extra to building up a multi-cloud administration stage, I speculate this is another territory in which VMware will keep on growing in 2018.

VCP5-DCV Sample Question

Question: 21

An ESXi 5.x host displays a warning icon in the vSphere console and its summary page lists a configuration issue "SSH for the host has been enabled." What are two ways to clear this warning? (Choose two.)

A. Using the Security Profile pane of the Configuration tab in the vSphere Client
B. Using the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI)
C. Using the Advanced Settings pane of the Configuration tab in the vSphere Client
D. Using the Networking pane of the Configuration tab in the vSphere Client

Answer: A,C

VCP5-DCV Sample Question

Question: 20

Under which two conditions can vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) provide a performance benefit? (Choose two.)

A. When a virtual disk has VMDK files stored on an NFS datastore.
B. When a virtual disk is created using the New Virtual Machine wizard.
C. When cloning a virtual machine with snapshots.
D. When a virtual disk is deleted.

Answer: AD

Explanation:

A) With NFS, the default is alway thin provisioned. Provisioning there should not have much benefit from VAAI offloads, except when you are not creating a thin disk. In that case, you utilize the "space reservation" function of VAAI, which allows you to create an EZT disk, but that doesn't really mean I am creating the disk a lot faster. Actually, I'm not offloading the writing of zeroes at all via NFS, so performance is not the key part of this VAAI function.

B) The answer doesn't tell met what option is selected, regardless of the option I choose, I can either use features like for example ATS or Write-Same, depending on which type of disk I'm provisioning (obviously this applies to block storage).

C) VMware KB 1021976 clearly states "VAAI hardware offload cannot be used when: [..] Cloning a virtual machine that has snapshots (or doing a View replica or recompose), because this process involves consolidating the snapshots into the virtual disks of the target virtual machine". So this answer isn't correct in my opinion.

D) You should distinguish between the deletion of an entire disk, and the space reclaim function for thin provisioning (TP Unmap) which is covered by Cormac here: The Unmap primitive was actually introduced with vSphere 5.0, and did include the feature that, when a VM was vMotioned to a different disk, or a VM was deleted, Unmap would reclaim the space. Unfortunately, they noticed that this could cause a performance problem, and they disabled the primitive the vSphere 5.0 patch 2. They then re-enabled it, but as a manual process with vSphere 5.0U1.

VCP5-DCV Sample Question

Question: 19

An administrator is troubleshooting an ESXi 5.x host and needs to export diagnostic information. The host is currently managed by a vCenter Server instance. Which two ways can the information be gathered using the vSphere Client? (Choose two.)

A. Select Home. Under Administration, click System Logs and click the Export System Logs button. Select the affected ESXi host. Select Select All. Select a location and click Finish.
B. In the vSphere Client, select the affected ESXi host. Right-click the host and select Export Diagnostic Data. Select a location and click OK.
C. Log in to the ESXi host locally, Select Export System Logs.
D. In the vSphere Client, select the affected ESXi host. Select File, Export and Export System Logs. Select Select All. Select a location and click Finish.

Answer: A,D

Explanation:

You can collect information by selecting Home. Under Adminstration, click System logs and click export system logs button. Select the affected ESXi host. Select Select All. Select a location and click Finish. To export system logs from the ESXi host, the alternative way is to select the affected ESXi host in vSphere client. Select File, Export and Export System Logs. Select Select All. Select a location and click Finish.

VCP5-DCV Sample Question

Question: 18

What are three use cases for vSphere Fault Tolerance? (Choose three.)

A. Provide guaranteed up time for a RDM enabled virtual machine
B. Provide efficient scheduled reliability for a payroll virtual machine
C. Provide guaranteed reliability for a development virtual machine with scheduled snapshots
D. Provide guaranteed reliability for a legacy Windows NT virtual machine
E. Ensure up time for a Linux virtual machine without making any changes to the OS

Answer: B,D,E

Explanation:

vSphere fault tolerance provides efficient scheduled reliability for a payroll virtual machine. It can also provide reliability for legacy Windows NT virtual machine. Along with that, it can ensure up time for a linux virtual machine without making any changes to the OS itself.

VCP5-DCV Sample Question

Question: 17

An administrator has created a virtual machine that will be accessed from a public kiosk.Management has requested that the virtual machine be reset to a known state once a week or on demand if requested.Which method is the simplest way to meet this requirement?

A. Configure the storage array to be vSphere aware and script routine array snapshot restores of the datastore.
B. Implement a 3rd party imaging server and PXE boot the virtual machine off a static image.
C. Set the VMDKs of the virtual machine to be Independent-Nonpersistent and schedule restarts of the virtual machine.
D. Create Nonpersistent disks for the virtual machine and set the guest OS to reboot once a week.

Answer : C